"You better cut the pizza in four pieces because I'm not hungry enough to eat six." - Yogi Berra

We're completely off the grid at Silver Falls State Park, so this is our daily trip back into the land of the connected. We found a good coffee shop in the beautiful little town of Silverton that suits us perfectly. Hot tea for Pam and whatever version of coffee suits me at the moment. 

Life happens at a very different, and slower pace when camping. It takes longer to do everything, including getting dressed (requires a trip down the loop to the bathroom/shower building) and fixing meals (fire up the stove, heat the water...). But that's what vacation is about.

It's also about seeing friends. Last night we had a superb meal with even better people, Mauri and Sherry Macy, who live in Newberg, about an hour from the state park. Oh, and that's Mr. Darcy, their English Setter.  We sat outside to eat and catch up on life. I won't try to exlain the easy connection we feel with these two; it can't be done. Just is. And the fact that Mauri has just retired after years as the Music Pastor at Newberg Friends Church gives us something else in common. (Newberg is a nice little town.)

Today we'll do more hiking to see more of the water falls at this park. Tomorrow morning we pack up camp and head to the coast for the rest of our trip. First stop: Sunset Bay State Park south of Coos Bay. But on the way....

Yesterday I asked the gal making our drinks how she liked Silverton. "You thinking of moving here??" Long story short, she ended up telling us about IdeaBox, a firm that makes prefab Tiny Houses, and they're located in Salem. Hey, we'll drive through there on our way to the coast! And now we've planned a stop at their business to look at one of their models and talk to them about their product. Should be a fun divertimento. 

Then we'll stop in Florence, a cute little fishing/tourist town north of Coos Bay. We need to be somewhere we're sure of good cellphone coverage because Pam has a 3 p.m. phone interview for a job at the hospital. We know from past stops at Sunset Bay State Park that we won't have any cell phone coverage there, either. 

Vacation. 

These little towns are a refreshing and interesting change from places like Phoenix Metro. When we first arrived in Silverton, on our way to the park, we stopped to buy groceries for the next several meals. I asked the guy working the register if there were any indie coffee shops in town. He got this puzzled look on his face, turned to the older lady bagging our groceries, and she wrinkled her brow, too. 

"Where are you guys from?"

I told him we were from Phoenix and would be camping up at the state park.

"Yeah, we don't have any of those in this part of the country."

I tried to explain the term indie but realized it wasn't worth the effort, for either of us.